Jose Monfred C. Sy
BA in Comparative Literature, University of the Philippines Diliman
MA in Araling Pilipino (Philippine Studies), University of the Philippines Diliman
PhD student in Comparative Literature, University of Hong Kong
josemonfredsy@connect.hku.hk
Research interests
social movements, revolutionary art and literature, intellectual history, anticolonialism and decolonization, children’s literature, environmental humanities
Jose Monfred C. Sy is a PhD student at the Department of Comparative Literature, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR. He is also an assistant professor (on leave) at the Department of Filipino and Philippine Literature, University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman. His first monograph, Mga Mapa-kuwento ng Bakwit School: Paglalakbay, Pag-aaral, at Pakikibaka ng Kabataang Lumad (Map-Stories from the Bakwit School: The Sojourn, Study, and Struggle of Lumad Youth for the Ancestral Land, Sentro ng Wikang Filipino, 2024), explores the intersections of education and resistance among Indigenous youth. He also co-edited the volumes Suring Supling: Kalipunan ng Rebyu ng mga Akdang Pambata sa Pilipinas (Collection of Reviews of Children’s Books in the Philippines, Sentro ng Wikang Filipino, 2022), Mula Palengke Patungong Paaralan: Critical, Nationalist, and Democratic Pedagogy in the Philippines (From the Marketplace to the School, IBON Foundation, 2024), and Reimagining Development in Southeast Asia: Alternative Practices from the Grassroots and Social Movements (Springer, 2025). His work on social movements, environmental humanities, revolutionary art and literature, and children’s literature in the Philippines and Southeast Asia appears in Kritika Kultura, Humanities Diliman, AlterNative, Suvannabhumi, and Philippine Studies, among others. He is a member of the Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND) and the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) – Philippines. Aside from his academic and activist work, he is the author of several children’s books.